There is known a process in which, for example, an oxide film is formed on the surface of a semiconductor wafer, and this oxide film is subjected to a lithography and an etching so as to form a groove pattern corresponding to a wiring pattern, and on this groove pattern, a conductive film comprising Cu and the like to fill the groove pattern is deposited, and from this conductive film, an unnecessary portion except for the filled portion such as a groove pattern and a through hole is removed by the chemical mechanical polishing, thereby forming a wiring pattern. In this formation of the wring pattern, it is extremely important to accurately detect the polishing endpoint when the unnecessary portion of the conductive film is removed at an appropriate thickness to stop the process. When the polishing of the conductive film is excessive, a resistance of the wiring increases, and when the polishing is insufficient, an insulation fault of the wiring is caused.
As the prior art relating to this, for example, there is known the following monitoring method of a change of the film thickness on the spot. This prior art is a method of monitoring a change of the thickness of the conductive film on the spot in the method of removing an conductive film from above a substrate main body (semiconductor wafer) by the chemical mechanical polishing, and arranges in the vicinity of the conductive film a series or a parallel resonance circuit with an inductor and a condenser comprising a coil wound around a ferrite-pot type core to form and shape so as to bring about a directional characteristic in an electromagnetic field, and applies a sweep output comprising 20 Hz to 40.1 MHz from an excitation signal source to the sensor through an operating point setting impedance means. As a result, when the sensor is excited, an oscillating current flows into the coil, thereby generating an alternating electromagnetic field. The alternating electromagnetic field subsequently induces an eddy current into the conductive film. When the eddy current is induced into the conductive film, two effects arise. In the first place, the conductive film acts as a loss resistance, and its effect is a resistance load to a sensor circuit, and the effect reduces the amplitude of a resonance signal, and reduces a resonance frequency. In the second place, when the thickness of the conductive film is reduced, an effect arises as though a metal rod were pulled out from the coil of the inductor. As a result, a change of an inductance and a shift of the frequency are created. In this manner, by monitoring a change of the frequency shift relating to the sensor resonance peak caused by a change of the thickness of the conductive film, a change of the thickness of the conductive film is continuously detected (for example, Patent Document 1).
Further, as another prior art, there is known, for example, the following eddy current sensor. This prior art comprises a sensor coil (eddy current sensor) arranged in the vicinity of the conductive film or a base substance formed with the conductive film, an alternating current signal source supplying to the sensor coil an alternating current signal of a constant frequency at approximately 8 to 32 MHz and forming the eddy current in the conductive film, and a detection circuit measuring a reactance component and a resistance component including the conductive film, and the sensor coil comprises an oscillating coil connected to the signal source, a detection coil arranged in the conductive film side of the coil, and a balance coil arranged in an opposite side to the conductive film of the oscillating coil, and the detection coil and the balance coil are connected so as to be mutually put into a reverse phase. From the resistance component and the reactance component detected in the detection circuit, a synthesized impedance is outputted, and from a change of the impedance, a change of the film thickness of the conductive film is detected as an approximately linear relationship in a wide range (for example, see Patent Document 2).
Further, as another prior art, there is known, for example, the following eddy current sensor. In this prior art also, similarly to the above mentioned prior art, in the paragraph [0008], the flux forming the sensor coil penetrates the conductive film on the substrate arranged in the whole surface of the sensor coil and alternately changes, thereby generate the eddy current in the conductive film, and the eddy current flows into the conductive film to cause an eddy current loss and leads to reduce the reactance component of the impedance of the sensor coil when viewed in terms of an equivalent circuit. Further, in the paragraph [0009], it is described that when the conductive film becomes gradually thin accompanied with the progress of the polishing by observing the change of the oscillation frequency of an oscillation circuit, the oscillation frequency is reduced to become a self-oscillation frequency of a tank circuit in which the conductive film is totally removed, and after that, the oscillation frequency becomes approximately constant, and therefore, by detecting this point, a finish point by the chemical mechanical polishing of the conductive film can be detected. Further, in the paragraph [0025], as shown in FIG. 2, in proportion to the progress of the polishing of the conductive film, the eddy current changes, and an equivalent resistance value of the sensor coil changes. Consequently, the oscillation frequency of the oscillating circuit changes and the oscillating signal is divided by a frequency divider circuit or subtracted by a subtracter, so that a signal corresponding to the magnitude of the frequency of the detected width is displayed in the monitor. As a result, a transition of the frequency locus as shown in FIG. 2 can be obtained (for example, see Patent Document 3).                [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Publication No. 2878178 (pp 2 to 7, FIG. 1 to 15)        [Patent Document 2] Japanese Patent Publication No. 3587822 (p. 3, FIG. 1 to 11)        [Patent Document 3] Japanese Patent Publication Laid-Open No. 2003-21501        
In the prior art according to Patent Document 1, the sensor is provided with an inductor comprising a coil wound around a ferrite-pot type core to bring about directional characteristics in an electromagnetic field and a series or a parallel resonance circuit with a capacitor. The sensor is applied with a sweep output comprising the frequency range of 20 Hz to 40.1 MHz in the initial stage of the polishing, and by the alternating electromagnetic field having the directionality generated from the coil, a leakage flux penetrating the conductive film is generated, so that a large eddy current corresponding to the film thickness of the conductive film is induced from the initial stage of the polishing. To induce a large eddy current corresponding to the film thickness of the conductive film, a large alternating electromagnetic field, that is, the formation of a large flux to the extent of penetrating the conductive film is required, and the monitoring of a change of the thickness of the conductive film is performed by using the eddy current induced inside the conductive film from the initial stage to the final stage of the polishing. Therefore, during the monitoring of the change of the film thickness, it is necessary to allow the flux to penetrate in the direction to a thickness of the conductive film. This is apparent even from the fact that, in the drawing of the unexamined publication according to Patent Document 1, the lines of the flux penetrating the conductive film are drawn in all the portions of the conductive film.
In general, on the surface of the wafer at the initial stage of the polishing, immaculate Cu films (conductive films) are on the top layer. To induce the eddy current in all of these immaculate Cu films, an extremely large leakage flux is required. However, though the leakage flux induces the eddy current, any of these eddy currents turns into the joule heat in the form of the eddy current loss, and is consumed. This joule heat loss causes a relatively small heat generation due to a small volume resistance for the immaculate Cu film of the top surface, whereas, in the already wired inner portion, since a wired cross-sectional area is small and the volume resistance is small, a large eddy current is induced by the penetrating flux, and as a result, a large joule heat loss is locally produced. This, in some cases, is developed into a problem of partially molten and cut wiring, and results in a state of a so-called induction heating, particularly causing a phenomenon where the heat is confined inside. In particular, in the Cu wiring and the like, when Cu is heated, Cu is sometimes dispersed into a barrier film such as Ta, and depending on the circumstances, there is a fear that Cu is dispersed by bursting through the barrier film.
Further, when a wiring is applied on the surface portion of the wafer in several layers, there is not only concern over the Cu film on the surface layer, but also concern over the local heating and diffusion around of the inner wiring portion, which has already finished with the processing, and further diffusion of dopants forming a P type and a n type inside a semiconductor substrate so as to change the characteristics of the substrate inner element. Further, even if the heat is not generated, when an excessive eddy current flows into microscopic wirings, there is sometimes the case where electromigration is induced so as to cause a breaking of the wirings.
Further, for example, when the processing is performed by changing the polishing conditions at the time of having reached a predetermined remaining film amount in the vicinity of the polishing endpoint, it is difficult to find whether it is the predetermined remaining film amount. This is because, although it is possible to evaluate from the changed portion of the initial film thickness, when the initial film thickness fluctuates, the evaluation of the predetermined remaining film amount also fluctuates. Regarding the determination of the polishing endpoint, when a gap between the sensor and the conductive film minutely changes by a vibration of the polishing, a whole floating capacitance of the sensor circuit system changes, so that the whole resonance frequency shifts. As a result, supposing that a threshold value is set when the resonance frequency becomes a certain set resonance frequency and the setting of determining the polishing endpoint is made, when the resonance frequency totally shifts, the determination of the polishing endpoint by the setting of the threshold value becomes difficult. In this manner, in the conventional method, in the resonance frequency which changes by monotonously and continuously increasing or decreasing, even if the threshold value is set to a certain value, a gap between the sensor and the conductive film minutely changes or some sort of dielectric material intervenes between thereof, so that there exists often the case where its waveform itself totally and vertically parallel-displaces, and as a result, the threshold value set in advance often does not make any sense.
In the prior art according to Patent Document 2 using the eddy current sensor also, a monitoring of a change of the film thickness of the conductive film is conducted by observing a change of the eddy current from the initial stage of the polishing to the final stage of the polishing, and this is approximately the same as the prior art according to Patent Document 1.
Further, in the prior art which monitors the film thickness of the conductive film by using the eddy current from the initial stage of the polishing to the final stage of the polishing, it is necessary to fabricate a flux strong enough to the extent of permeating inside the film so as to induce an eddy current inside the film, and a shape of the inductor is three dimensional to allow the flux to have an directivity. Therefore, when the sensor is incorporated into the polishing apparatus and the like, generally, there is the following problem. The current flowing into the coil becomes large so that the power consumption becomes large, and a power unit also becomes large in size. The flux leaks circumferentially so as to easily generate a noise. The process of winding a conductive wire in a coil shape is required, which invites a high cost.
In the prior art comprising the eddy current sensor according to Patent Document 3, first, the hardware of the sensor portion used in this prior art is configured on condition that, first, the sensor coil penetrates the conductive film. Consequently, in the hardware generating the magnetic field only to the extent of not penetrating the conductive film, the eddy current is not formed and its purpose is not achieved. Further, the conductive film is reduced by the polishing, so that the area in which the eddy current is formed is monotonically decreased, and as a result, a behavior of monotonically decreasing the oscillation frequency is disclosed, and the time when its oscillation frequency becomes approximately constant is taken as a finish point of time, and the portion is detected. That is, in the algorism of the software used in this prior art, the change of the oscillation frequency takes a change which becomes approximately constant from the decrease as a change of the oscillation frequency, and for example, when this oscillation frequency changes so as to have a flexion point, it is hardly any detectable algorism. Further, as shown in FIG. 2, from the initial stage of the polishing, the flux penetrates the conductive film, and is always in a state of generating the eddy current. Here, the eddy current sensor always positively generates the eddy current, and a method of re-calculating into the film thickness change from the eddy current change is substituted by the eddy current sensor.
Consequently, a strong flux is not exercised up to a minute wiring formed inside the film, and as a result, the generation of the eddy current induced by electromagnetic induction is suppressed, and the Joule heat loss due to the eddy current is minutely suppressed, and at the same time, the situation is eliminated, in which an eddy current amount induced by the change of the gap between the sensor and the conductive film and interpositioning of dielectric materials such as slurry is totally shifted so that the setting of the threshold value is changed to a large extent and difficult to be detected is not occur, and even when the magnetic field is a minute magnetic field to the extent of not penetrating the device wafer, the magnetic field can be sufficiently and precisely detected, and the polishing endpoint is precisely forecast and detected, and further, the remaining film amount to be removed and a polishing rate and the like are precisely calculated on the spot, and to accurately evaluate whether the predetermined conductive film is appropriately removed, the technical problems to be solved are generated, and an object of the present invention is to solve these problems.